SAR Compatriot:Eugene Foley
Pay Attention to the Detail
When we qualify our ancestors as
patriots with proof of birth, death, and marriage, we often don’t bother
with other information that might lead to a better understanding of who
they are. Census records, city directories and obituaries also provide
information, such as occupation or employers, that can help us
understand more about who our ancestors are and how they lived.
In
my research, I very much enjoy finding interesting facts and digging
deeper into them. As I was looking at my Jamestown families, I found a
ship’s captain by the name of James Davis or Davies from whom I am
descended. In the notes about his life, it mentioned that he had also
delivered colonists to the Popham Plantation, and that he had captained a
pinnace that had been built there (the first English ship built in
North America). Pretty cool, I thought.
Of course, there are many ancestry-based societies other than SAR/DAR, Mayflower, and Jamestown. One of them is dedicated to the descendants of what is often called the Popham Plantation, located in the area near Kennebunk, Maine. The colonists arrived there in mid-1607. Yep, 1607. About the same time as Jamestown was first settled. The Popham settlement was apparently pretty well managed, as it only lost one of its colonists in the first year…unlike Jamestown and Plymouth.
Interestingly,
the colony, which was principally a commercial enterprise, was
abandoned a year later. Such presence of Europeans in North America was
enough that by the time the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, the indigenous
people had some knowledge of the English. This helps to explain the
comfort with which Squanto and Massasoit could communicate with the
colonists.
In
my research, I very much enjoy finding interesting facts and digging
deeper into them. As I was looking at my Jamestown families, I found a
ship’s captain by the name of James Davis or Davies from whom I am
descended. In the notes about his life, it mentioned that he had also
delivered colonists to the Popham Plantation, and that he had captained a
pinnace that had been built there (the first English ship built in
North America). Pretty cool, I thought.Of course, there are many ancestry-based societies other than SAR/DAR, Mayflower, and Jamestown. One of them is dedicated to the descendants of what is often called the Popham Plantation, located in the area near Kennebunk, Maine. The colonists arrived there in mid-1607. Yep, 1607. About the same time as Jamestown was first settled. The Popham settlement was apparently pretty well managed, as it only lost one of its colonists in the first year…unlike Jamestown and Plymouth.
Interestingly,
the colony, which was principally a commercial enterprise, was
abandoned a year later. Such presence of Europeans in North America was
enough that by the time the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, the indigenous
people had some knowledge of the English. This helps to explain the
comfort with which Squanto and Massasoit could communicate with the
colonists.